The Full Works Concert - Wednesday 8 October, 8pm

Music from Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Handel, Samuel Barber - all capped with Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. What more could you want from a Full Works Concert?

On the Full Works Concert this evening, Samuel Barber’s rhapsodic Violin Concerto, played by the wonderful Vadim Gluzman, and Debussy’s evocative picture of his three-year-old daughter’s toys, Children’s Corner.

We’ll also hear one of Handel’s rarely performed harp concertos, and Beethoven’s magnificent ‘Eroica’ Symphony. It marked a turning point in musical history. Beethoven originally titled the piece 'Bonaparte' out of admiration for Napoleon, but when Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804, Beethoven gave the piece its more familiar name. It was dedicated instead to Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz, Beethoven's patron, and it was at his palace that the symphony was first performed in August 1804. Long, technically challenging and aimed at more than entertainment, the symphony initially confused critics but, later, they came to recognise its significance in the development of the symphonic genre.